Winter Homestead Update: Rental House Flip Plans, Foam Insulation & Cold Weather Bass Fishing!

In this massive winter farm life update, we reveal our biggest project for 2026: flipping a 50-year-old house for use as a rental property! We bought it at a deep discount and are planning a month-long, fast renovation project, including new septic, security, and the fence. Also, see our crazy foam injection insulation process and how we’re managing chickens in the cold and finding success with winter bass fishing!
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:06 BIG 2026 Plans: Buying & Flipping a Rental House
00:00:13 Foam Injection Insulation on Our Home!
00:01:42 The 50-Year-Old Rental House Fix-Up Plan
00:02:32 Yard Work & Centipede Grass Plan for the Rental
00:04:41 Hunting Update: The “Barbwire Buck”
00:05:40 Winter Garden: Dealing with Seeding Failures & Panicum Grass
00:07:45 Checking on the Girls: Chickens in Winter (Low Egg Production)
00:12:22 Cold Weather Bass Fishing (Catching Big Fish on a Tiny Lure!)

Morning. So, before I start this video, I need to give you some updates because there’s some really big changes going on for 2026. I’m out of breath cuz I just finished working out. I got to go back down the house to do some cleanup. First of all, we just finished the foam injection on the entire house. That’s going to be a very interesting video. If you watch that video coming up in a couple of days, you’ll learn a lot. It’s It really is an amazing process. a lot of science behind it. All right. So, go ahead and explain that, Gra. So, there’s a cavity here. So, we foam this one. That’s why it’s showing yellow. Uhhuh. And then you see, you know, roughly right here. There’s a It’s purple. And then there’s another yellow halfway. Uhhuh. So, our hole was here and our next hole was here. It was just on the other side of the stud. Got. So, it filled this cavity. So, now with the camera, we see, okay, this one’s missed. So, that’s why they were just drilling this hole, these holes out. So, so the hot one that I’m seeing there is was done prior and that heat’s coming through. Correct. Basically. Yes. Yep. Yep. He foamed uh there and same thing as if you looked in the bathroom or closet there, you would see the yellow. Also, so the wife and I over the past year have been talking about how we want to put our savings and money to work. And what we’ve decided is as in 2026, as housing prices continue to draw down and almost probably crash, if you believe that, which is what I believe, uh, we’re going to probably pick up some rental houses and we’re going to go in, we’re going to do some fix up work on them, and then we’re going to rent them out. The first one I already bought. It’s a 50-year-old house, and I’m going to spend a whole month in there showing you guys. We’re going to go in there and we’re going to hammer this place. So, we’re going to do the septic system. We’re going to check all the electrical. We’re going to change some doors around. We’re going to put security systems in there. We’re going to put cameras in there. Um, we’re going to be doing um Starlink satellite on it. But the reason why I’m doing all that is because Ryan and his better half, they’re going to rent it from us. So, this is in a really desirable county. And I picked this up at a really low price, like a lot less than they paid for it a year ago. And that’s what’s starting to happen. So, as 2026 goes along and we start to see more of these, we’ll probably pick some up, but I’ll take you along. Yes, I’m going to do yard work. This yard, I think I’m going to do centipede in cuz it doesn’t have an irrigation system, and centipede I’ve been using around here is a really good grass for that type of situation. So, yes, I’ll be doing some lawn work. We’re going to put up a big We’re going to put up an 8ft fence like we did at the old house. We’re It’s called a 71. So, it’s a 7ft fence and on the top of the fence there’s mission style slats on the top. It’s really cool looking. So, it’s going to be a cool project. So, I know most of you subscribe, but make sure your bell’s on because that may not It’s funny the YouTube algorithm just isn’t putting that crap in the feed. and make sure you’re on our email list because every time I publish a video that’s on our website, you get a notification. That’s what that list is for. I send out two emails a year. The rest of the emails are just notifications about um a new videos up. So, you go over go over to the website and join our mailing list. There’s a link over there and uh so you get notified. Today, I’ve been shooting a video the past week. I might also go ahead and publish it and put it out. Going around here, I’ve had seating failures. I’m receding the garden with some cereal rye. I went cold weather fishing, folks. We have got 20s moving in. We have got some cold temperature moving in, possibly into the teens. So, just a little bit of a heads up. Anyways, here’s this video I’ve been working on. The next video should be that foam injection for the whole house. Dude, it’s kind of crazy, man. I’ll tell you what, there’s nothing colder. There’s nothing colder than a day where it’s foggy, misty, and it’s 34 degrees outside and it’s only going to get up in the 40s today. This is the kind of weather we’ve been having. And we’ve got Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, we have a big cold front moving in. We’re going to drop down probably down to 21°. So, what am I doing today? Today, uh I’m just going to make a real quick random video, throw some stuff together. uh watch it if you want because there’s really nothing else on. Trust me, I’ve been looking. Give it a thumbs up. Drop a comment down below and let me know what your temps are going to be and where you are. That’d be interesting to see. So, uh yeah, it’s still hunting season and I didn’t go hunting this morning because there’s so much fog. What’s interesting is there’s one deer that we’re after this year and we call him the barbwire buck. and the barbwire buck. When we first saw this buck, we thought that he had Joe Ro spiderw webs on his antlers. Well, come to find out, we got some good uh game cam pictures of him. He We don’t know if he was rubbing up against the fence or just got tangled, but he’s got barb wire all around his antlers and then it goes down and it wraps around his neck and it’s actually kind of cutting into his neck. So, it’s not just that it’s a be a cool buck to harvest, but it probably would be a good buck for humane reasons. If that’s going to keep cutting into his neck, it’s probably a good thing to take him out. I mean, two years ago, we had the crippled buck if you saw that video. Uh, he ended up having a broken back and an eye gouged out. We never did take him. He actually died next to my pond. So, anyways, it’s kind of cool. Uh, I’m having problems. First of all, this is next month. uh if you have a warm season grass or if you’re especially if you’re in the south, you may be dealing with pana. And in January is when I like to put out my pre-emergent on the lawn for pana. So, just be aware of that. I’ll do a video on that. But I’ve been having problems with my winter seedings. And here’s what happens. I’ll get warmer temperatures and some rain move in. I’ll be like, “Great, let’s go put out some seed.” And then all of a sudden, few days later, bam, we get down to the 20s and that new germination just gets stunted. So, I came up here yesterday or day before yesterday. There’s only one thing you can really plant this time of year for your gardens if you have gardens, and that’s winter cereal rye. I buy it off Amazon. Maybe I’ll put a link if you want, but it’ll germinate down to 34°. So, it’s a good it’s a something good to get roots in the ground, which is what we want all year round. I planted kale out in these rows, and I should have done it a month ago. I just I was too late. Yes, I have some germination, but it’s just not going to grow like I want. Now, out here in these fields, I have kale, radish, turnup, everything the chickens can eat, and we can eat this as well, too. But that lassionado kale that I planted from Italy over there is fantastic in salads. Um, if you go to like chat GBT or something, type in what are the five top most nutritious kales that are out there, it’s number two. Red Russian kale comes up number one and that lassionado kale comes up number two and it really tastes good. Um, I’m not a fan of just generic kale, but that kale’s pretty good. And then I’m going to take you out fishing. Uh, I was freezing cold. Well, my hands were numb. And I went out. I said, “Let me take I took a little MET spinner out to the pond.” Dude, I caught a lot of bass. And what’s interesting is is you get to see what a healthy pond looks like. I caught bass that were anywhere from like 3 to 4 in all the way up to like a 2 or three pounder. So, it’s a good sign that my pond is really healthy when I’m catching those generational fish. Uh up here taking care of the girls right now. I’ve got a it it is only like 34 degrees. It’s like 10 o’clock in the morning. Um and it’s this heavy heavy fog and it’s just cold, man. I’d much rather have it 20° and snowing than I would this. This is just goes through your bones. I told the wife, I said, I’m going to get some firewood and start the wood stove cuz I’m just It’s not a day to be out here, but we got to take care of the girls first. I got to clean up their waters. They already got some food. and then I’ll go over and we’ll look at the new girls and see how they’re doing. Uh, egg production is down, by the way, because some of these chickens are still going through the molting process. Lower daylight hours, there’s not enough light. So, I’m only getting about 15 16 eggs a day from these girls. Uh, in the springtime, when it gets a little bit warmer, they’ll be back up to about 20 eggs a day. the new girls. There’s 17 new girls down there. Two of them are roosters apparently. And uh they’ll be laying eggs probably end of this month or maybe January. So I’m watching real close. Any day now I can walk in there and find an egg down there. But they’re really cool looking birds. These are all Rhode Island reds. Hey honey. Hey honey. You want a butt scratch? I’ll give you a butt scratch and then you shake it off. Ready? Shake it off. There you go. And uh but those are all mixed birds and they’re really cool looking. So anyways, I got to they’re wanting water. I need to clean out and fill their water tanks. This time of year, I’m putting seed germination pads under the water tanks to keep them from freezing in case you’re going to ask. And no, you don’t heat chicken coops and especially in the southeast. Chickens have on down coats. They’re fine. Here they come. Hi. How is everybody? Don’t pick my camera. Hi, Mr. Rooster. You’re so pretty. You are so pretty. You guys. So, this guy’s a rooster. You can tell by his tail. That’s a hen. Same breed. And that’s the other rooster back over there. Yeah. And as a matter of fact, I’ve got some video from one of my cameras this morning of what I hear every morning over here. Hi. Aren’t you pretty? Look at you. You are so pretty. You really are. Yeah. Hi, there’s Snow White. Hi, Snow White. They were picking on you the other day. Yeah, they were picking on you the other day. There’s always freaking drama, dude. It’s like having It’s like having middle schoolers. Let me just make sure I don’t have any eggs showing up in the box. Nope, just fake eggs. Water’s good. Food’s good. All right, here we go. So, uh, of course, as soon as I start, it starts to rain heavy, so I’m out here. I took care of the girls. I’ve got a unfortunately I’ve got they’re starting to lay inside the house when I don’t close it up. So I got six eggs with that are dirty with poo. And what I do with those eggs is I wash them in cold water. I did a video on that. The ones that come out of the boxes are perfectly clean. But I wash those and I put them in the refrigerator. And the other ones can stay out. So it’s usually just about five or six of them. But this is that this is that cereal grain right there. It’s like chunky grass seed. And all I’m going to do I’m just going to put it basically just on these rows. All I want is I want root system in here all winter long. And unfortunately, my kale and clover plantings were a failure. I mean, this kale may grow, but I really think it’s going to need sunshine and 60° before it takes off. In a minute, I’ll show you the the older kale that’s actually beautiful. So, after I get done with this, I’ll probably have to go in and get out of wet clothes. But I’m not doing super heavy. I’m just doing moderate. Clear. It is so clear right now. It’s crazy. And yesterday, right in here is where I caught my two biggest fish, believe it or not. Normally, I wouldn’t catch them until I got down to that corner that stays real sunny. Just a slow little tiny meeps this time of year works really well. As long as you can keep it out of the Oops. That may have been a bite. Yeah, it was. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, easy, easy. Holy cow. Second cast. I think I got eight lb test on this little ultral light. That’s a bigger fish. It’s not huge, but for this rod, it is. You got to stay out of that stick over here, too. I knew that he was after it. Came in and bumped it once. Holy. Look at that. on this tiny little mess. That’s crazy. Don’t jump. Oh, don’t jump. I got a pair of pliers. I didn’t push down the barbs, so I brought a pair of pliers. Look at that little mess. Look at that beauty. Ain’t he great? That is so cool right there. Dude, I can’t believe that second cast. It’s kind of hard to tell with this damn spool and reel. That’s a fish. That’s about the size. That’s about the size I was catching mostly yesterday. He’s kind of medium. You know what, half pounders. Like I said, I was catching a ton of these yesterday. Normally I would poke down my barbs, but since I’m I’m starting to catch some of these big fish, so that’s why I’m not so screwed up. There’s another one. He’s the great American fisherman. He’ll go anywhere. Anywhere there’s fish, you know he’ll be there. Another one. Rain last night quite a bit. Got half an inch of rain. So maybe maybe they’re out a little bit deeper. God, that line. Oops. Yep. A little bit deeper. This feels like a small one. Yep. Small little guy. All right. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Hold them tight. Don’t let go. There we go. Pretty little guy. But see, I’ve got fish food floating on the top. I’ve got no brim. I’ve got no brim eating it. Oops. Little guy. Little guy. Oh, and of course, as soon as I turn off the camera, what happens? Catch another fish. And you have got yourself hooked pretty well there. That’s what I wanted to show you. I was hoping I’d catch one of these. You want to see a healthy pond? Look at this. Oh, don’t don’t stick me. Don’t stick me. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to hurt you. Let me get this out of you. It’s not in there deep. Hold on. It’s barely in there. Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t that simply just gorgeous? Look at that. Anyways, so uh let me see if you can see that. See all those little white holes? That’s all the spray foam holes up there. Jesse’s coming tomorrow. He’s going to paint those up, touch those up. We’re going to repaint the entire house um late spring, early summer. I want more of a little bit higher gloss on there. So, he’s just going to do a touch-up paint. Lily’s coming out in the morning. She’s going to go ahead and take care of all the chicken coops. Those all need to be cleaned. We got a bunch of stuff going on. This perennial rye actually doesn’t look horrible. You can see the septic tank. And I’m talking about seeding failures. This is that septic tank repair that I seated gosh seems like weeks ago. And it’s just now starting to germinate. I’m getting some germination on it. So, I don’t know. I don’t know if it’ll take, but man, it’s it’s like you get some rain and some warmer temperatures, then you get this freezing cold, you get down in the 20s, and it’s just it really hurts your seeding process. And again, be careful. Uh I got several videos coming out. We’re going to talk about number one, I’m going to give you guys I’m going to do a video about selling houses since we’ve been through this process so many times selling and buying houses and it’s going to be a strange year in 2026. I’m going to do a video on that. I got the spray foam video and then we close on that new house probably in a couple weeks and then I’ll take you over there. Jesse’s going to go over there. We’re going to do um it’s a 50-year-old house and so we’re going to do a lot of not renovation work but a lot of update works, just fast renovations so we can get it ready for uh for rental. It would actually be kind of cool. So anyways guys, appreciate you watching. Hope you had fun and I’ll see you tomorrow the next day. Doc